Buenavista stripped of gold

Eduardo Buenavista beat Thai rival Boonthung Srising to the finish but illegal maneuvers in the homestretch of their classic 5,000m run denied him of the gold medal as Team Philippines faded out in the fight for the SEA Games athletics overall championship at the Rizal stadium yesterday.

Buenavista gallantly fought for every step of the way in his duel with Srisung but did some blocking and pushing in the race to top the race in 14:14.76.

Thai official Surapong Ariyamongkol cried foul, immediately filed protest and was upheld as the jury stripped the local bet of the gold medal and awarded it to Srising.

Srising, thus, completed a long-distance double, ending Buenavista’s reign in the games right on the Filipino’s turf.

According to Sri Lankan technical director Pasqual Handinayada Waidyatilaka, the jury, composed of team managers from Brunei, Singapore and Indonesia, made a unanimous decision to strip Buenavista of the gold after reviewing the video tape.

"The jury found out that the act of Buenavista impeded the runner from Thailand," said Waidyatilaka.

In a sprint battle, Srising was about to surge ahead from the outer lane in the last 40 meters when Buenavista cut to the right slowing down the Thai in the process, and the local bet went on to flash first to the finish.

It was obvious something was wrong as they slugged it out on the first lane heading to the final straight. They ended up finishing on the sixth lane.

Srising immediately complained that he was blocked on his path and even elbowed by Buenavista when he was about to move ahead.

Buenavista later refused to comment on the incident, saying he’s still cooling off. Afterwards, he played with his kid and entertained photo sessions with his supporters.

"I feel so sorry, but it’s part of the game and we accept the decision," said Philippine athletics president Go Teng Kok.

Overshadowed by the controversy was Team Philippines’ victory in the 4x400m relay early on.

Jimar Aing and Ernie Candelario, the 400m gold and silver medal winners Tuesday, teamed up with Julius Nieras and Fil-Am runner Kashus Perona for the relay victory that came like a whiff of fresh air for the Philippines following successive defeats in earlier final events contested in the day.

It was the first victory by any RP quartet in the event since Isidro del Prado anchored the team that included Romeo Guido, Leopoldo Arnillo and Honesto Larce to gold-medal win in 1985 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Curiously, it was Del Prado, two-time gold medalist in the Asian Amateur Athletic Association champion, himself who whipped the RP quartet to winning form.

"This is our new Bicol Express," said Del Prado referring to the fearsome foursome in the 80s.

Limited to only one gold yesterday, the Philippines lost to Thailand the overall championship although the host is fancied to sweep the marathon gold medals through Cristabel Martes and either Roy Vence or Allan Ballecer Sunday.

With only the marathon to be held, Thailand is unassailably on top of the medal tally with an 11-13-19 gold-silver-bronze haul, followed by the Philippines with 8-10-8, Vietnam 8-8-3, then Malaysia 8-3-3.